Crystal Hearts
by Wintermoth
Summary: L'Cie for only a few hours, the five fugitives make their way through Lake Bresha. Lightning thinks about what's happened and wonders about her new companions and their new abilities.


**I'm a Final Fantasy fan! Proud of it, too! (SquallxRinoa, TifaxCloud, ZidanexDagger, TidusxYuna 4eva!) However, this is my first Final Fantasy fic...so I hope I didn't screw up!**

**This is a small story I wrote months ago out of boredom. I might do another one-shot or two from another character's POV. I have about a page or so for Vanille, but I don't know if/when I'll finish. So I'll just list this story as complete.  
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**Anyway, enjoy!**

***This was edited by my friend Wendy since she's played (and beaten) Final Fantasy XIII***

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Lightning Farron gritted her teeth.

How did she do it? They were now slaves of the enemy, walking along the crystallized Lake Bresha, trying to evade capture; so how, in the name of the Fal'Cie, did that girl remain so damn…_chipper?_ It was unnatural. She was humming softly in the background, giggling once in a while, whilst skipping around.

Every so often she'd gasp and eagerly rush over to examine a crystal formation that she found particularly fascinating.

She'd said her name was Vanille. What kind of name was _Vanille?_ And what kind of person dressed that way? It _definitely_ was not one of the current fashion trends, not that Lightning paid attention to such things. Serah was the one who—

Vanille's humming got a bit louder and interrupted the soldier's train of thought. Lightning spun around to glare at the perky girl.

Vanille's ever-present smile faltered a bit. "Is something wrong, Lightning?"

That _accent!_ What part of Cocoon had this girl come from? Where did they wear animal skins on their backsides? Where did they wear beads and bracelets by the dozen? Where did they wear skirts like that? Was there some part of Cocoon that remained primitive? Or possibly some sort of cult…? Impossible. The Sanctum would never allow it. Then how…?

Vanille blinked, waiting.

"Stop that." Lightning ordered.

Vanille cocked her head to one side. "Stop what?"

"That humming."

Vanille's face fell just a bit and Lightning spun around before she could respond and kept walking. She heard Vanille walking behind her, but at least the humming had stopped. Then she felt bad. At least the strange girl hadn't been moping like the little kid.

Hope.

Despite his white hair, he seemed very…normal. Whiney, yes—but otherwise normal. Just a kid who'd been swept along with the Purge. Innocent; not even a Bodhum resident. Where were his parents, anyway?

_Probably perished in the fighting,_ Lightning thought. It would at least explain how gloomy he'd been before the whole l'Cie deal.

Years of working in the Guardian Corp had made her vigilant and careful, as well as always on the lookout for her team. And, right now—whether she liked it or not—these other people were her team. So it didn't surprise her when she turned her head to make sure they were all there. Hope was walking with his head down, hands clasped together in front of him, near Vanille. He seemed attached to the weird girl, like a puppy to its mother. Vanille, despite being snapped at by Lightning, still seemed happy enough, and her arms swung like a child's. Snow was sauntering along in a way only he could, staring down at Serah's crystallized tear. Lightning quickly shifted her gaze to the older, dark-skinned man who'd infiltrated the Pulse Vestige with her. Sazh seemed to have aged considerably since becoming a l'Cie several hours ago. He'd been serious before, but there had been a looser sense about him that had vanished along with his humanity. Sazh held in his hands the baby chocobo who was crooning up to him.

Lightning turned away from them and shifted her examinations to the land around them. Lake Bresha was very beautiful as crystal. More beautiful than Serah had been when she… When she…

Lightning closed her eyes and fought back the tears.

_Serah._

Her little sister, once so full of life and happiness… Lightning had sacrificed so much to take care of her—even her name. She'd worked long hours and tried to keep her grades up so they would survive. So they wouldn't take Serah away and place them in foster homes or an orphanage. And yet, after all that, Serah had been taken from her anyway.

By a Fal'Cie. A _Pulse_ Fal'Cie. A Pulse monster had cursed her sister, and then turned her to crystal once she'd completed her slave task. Lightning wondered if Snow was right. Was her Focus really to tell them they had to save Cocoon? It made no sense since she was a _Pulse _l'Cie, an enemy of Cocoon…

If it had to be a Fal'Cie, why couldn't it have been from Cocoon? Serah would have been a hero, then. Yet, somehow, it still didn't make things better. She would've met the same fate even as a Cocoon l'Cie.

Crystal. Eternal life as a sparkling, translucent _rock_ that looked like her. But her soul was gone; asleep. She was as good as dead.

_At least she's not a Cie'th_,Lightning told herself. That would've been beyond horrible.

Even if Snow's desperate, love-driven thoughts were true and Serah _wasn't_ dead when she became crystal, then she would surely be dead by now. She, too, would've fallen from the Vestige. Her crystal would've shattered on impact.

Lightning bowed her head.

Serah hadn't done anything to deserve that. Even though she'd hooked up with an idiot like Snow, gotten _engaged_ to him and dropped the bomb on her birthday, Serah didn't deserve a l'Cie's fate.

"Oh, wow!" Vanille giggled and rushed past Lightning, arms bent at the elbow in excitement. "Look!" she pointed to a large, mound-like crystal with lines extending from the top and jagged edges protruding from the front.

Lightning frowned. What about that disfigured object had fascinated the girl? Personally, she thought it was quite ugly.

"Uh… Vanille?" Snow said slowly. "What are we looking at?"

"It looks like an Ochu!" Vanille giggled.

They all stared at her, but Vanille didn't seem to notice. "Oh come on, guys! Use your imagination! This is the body, those are its teeth, and those are the antennas… See? An Ochu! I'm just glad it's not real, though." She added solemnly. "They're simply awful to fight. Especially when they have saplings around. I guess it wouldn't come here, though, since there aren't any places for it to burrow."

Only then did she seem to realize she had the undivided attention of everyone—and that it was _not_ a good thing. "Ah…" She murmured.

"Uh, Vanille, what's an _Ochu?_" Hope asked timidly.

Vanille's eyes widened only a bit and Lightning noticed a flash of fear in their green depths.

"It's a, um, monster." She said, obviously a bit nervous now.

"I've never heard of them." Hope said, and then glanced up at Sazh.

The pilot shook his head. "Me either. And I've been everywhere!"

Lightning didn't doubt that.

"I've fought a lot of monsters," Snow bragged, "but never anything that looks like that."

Lightning just shook her head. She'd heard of practically every wilderness monster on Cocoon and never—not once—in all her schooling and training, had the name Ochu ever sprung up, not even on the list of extinct species.

"Oh," Vanille looked down. "Really? Well, let's keep going."

After another minute of walking, Vanille's cheery attitude returned. Lightning was beginning to wonder if the girl was unstable. Perhaps she'd been in a mental hospital and the doctors decided to just ship her off with the people 'infected' by Pulse so she wouldn't be anymore trouble. The only thing was, despite her attire, she didn't _look_ crazy.

There was a clarity in her eyes that Lightning had never seen in any of the deranged and drunken people she'd dealt with as a Guardian Corp officer; not to mention the fact that she had a childlike innocence. Maybe Vanille had been shut off from the world by something and was left with only imaginary things to keep her company. That would explain why she was gazing around at the world with wide, excited eyes, and comparing crystallized waves to creatures that didn't exist.

Somehow, Lightning knew Serah would've liked the strange redhead. There was a giddy happiness they both shared and a sense of freedom that they usually radiated. Plus, there was something about her that screamed for protection, the way Serah's feeble form always seemed to. Maybe that was why Vanille was driving Lightning crazy. She was like the eight-year-old Serah who would always giggle as she ran towards the waves that splashed up on the shore.

Lightning bowed her head just a bit.

"Oh, no!" Hope cried out and Lightning's head snapped around quickly.

Four Pantherons prowled just ahead, blocking their path. She narrowed her eyes, ignoring Hope's fear, and charged toward the beasts. One spotted her and roared to alert the other two. She drew her blade and leapt away to avoid being mauled by their powerful claws.

She was aware of Sazh and Vanille standing just behind her, casting spells at the PSICOM animals. Vanille seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Huyah!" She giggled as she flung a burst of water at the creature.

_Water. _The name of Vanille's spell popped into Lightning's head, though she was sure she'd never heard any of their magic spells by name. She felt the power of the spell on her fingertips and, for a moment, she lowered her blade and let the magic flow out from her fingers towards the enemy. A slightly powerful rush of water hit the closest Pantheron and it growled before collapsing, defeated. While the magic sent a strange thrill through the soldier, she still liked the idea of slashing her Blaze Saber through the opponent's heart.

So, for the moment, she left the magic to her two fighting companions and used her blade to make quick work of another Pantheron with a series of jabs and slices. The last one fell dead from a well-aimed fiery blow from Sazh.

Lightning waited for the name of Sazh's spell to come to her but was surprised when it didn't. She hid her disappointment with disgust as she spotted Hope cowering behind Snow a few yards from the fight. The blonde man seemed disappointed that he hadn't gotten a chance to join in.

"Hey kid, move it or lose it." Lightning called then turned away and kept walking.

The soldier would never admit it, but she was very curious about what they had just done. She found herself staring down at her hands where the magic water had sprung from. What else could she do besides shoot water out of her fingertips?

Just as she was wondering, she heard Hope's terrified yelp again. Five pink and blue amphibian-like creatures leapt down from crystal ledges and hopped menacingly in front of them. Well, there was one thing the little coward was useful for: alerting them about oncoming enemies. Now if only he could tell them exactly _what_ they were facing.

Lightning couldn't recall seeing this species ever on her duties and therefore lacked knowledge on its weak points. She couldn't just rush in with her blade and start swinging. They could have an array of attacks and defenses and the last thing any of the l'Cie needed right now was to be injured by an oversized fish. Lightning ground her teeth together and drew her blade anyway, just in case they attacked before she could.

Her eyes narrowed just a bit as a tingling feeling rushed through her fingertips. A weird glow appeared around the creature in front and she _knew_.

They were Bloodfang Bass, very weak creatures despite their appearance, and were very susceptible to fire and lightning damage. Water, too, would have some effect, but nowhere near as much as the spell that the soldier felt rushing to the surface.

_Thunder._ Lightning flung her hand out. This time the magic didn't shoot from her fingertips, for which she was grateful. Instead, the bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and electrocuted its victim. Lightning smirked. The _Thunder_ spell suited her just fine.

Sazh was switching between his fire-bullets and normal bullets, grunting with exertion. Vanille seemed frustrated that her water spells weren't doing much good. She actually growled! Lightning chuckled and instantly regretted it.

A Bloodfang Bass whipped its tail at her, leaving a gash across her cheek. It stung and she felt blood seeping from the wound. She gritted her teeth and charged at the damn beast, cutting it down in two swift blows.

"Here!" Vanille called; a warm, pleasant sensation flooded Lightning. The stinging in her cheek vanished.

After a few more good hits from Sazh and another round of Blitz swings from Lightning, the five pests lay dead on the ground. "The old man's still got it!" Sazh said proudly to himself.

Lightning stowed her gunblade in its sheath, and then reached up to feel her cheek. The wound was gone without a trace—even the blood had vanished. She turned to stare at Vanille. This was another spell she must not have access to.

"What did you do?" Lightning gestured to her cheek.

"Oh," Vanille's accented voice was a bit bashful. "It's a _Cure_ spell. I figured it would be best to just heal you instead of wasting a potion."

Lightning arched one eyebrow. She didn't like the thought of another taking care of her—it was against her nature since the death of her parents—but even she had to admit that having someone around who could heal their wounds on a moment's notice was very useful.

Lightning nodded once, which was as much of a thank you as the strange girl was ever getting.

"Well, keep that bit of magic handy from now on, okay, kiddo?" Snow winked at Vanille, whom smiled and nodded.

"Alright!"

"Hey, lookie here." Sazh was standing near a floating sphere with his hand on his chin. "Seems like we've got ourselves a bit of luck. Must've fallen along with all of this."

Vanille peered at the sphere. "Does it open?"

Lightning walked forward and placed her hand over the small sensor on the top. The device made a whirling noise then opened to reveal a sack of gil. Lightning opened it and examined the contents. Probably at least 3000 gil in there. That would be enough to buy them food; maybe even some potions.

_At least something went right today._ Lightning decided as she stowed the gil in the bag on her leg.

"Uh, guys?"

Hope pointed one gloved finger at something behind Lightning. She sighed and turned around; four more Pantherons had found them.

Figures.

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